Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.264

v3.c43.t1.264

Heights of Tus and Merta, 27*th*; fourteen miles and a half.—At length there is an end to our disastrous journey; and from this ground I stir not again, till I start for Samudra (the sea), to embark for the land of my sires. Our route, as usual, over desolate fields, doubly striking as we passed the hunting-seats of Nahramagra, or ‘tiger mount.’ Bajraj, the royal steed, who seemed instinctively to know he was at the end of his journey, was unwilling to quit the path and his companions, when I urged him to pick his way amidst the ruined palace of the Ranas, where, without metaphor, “the owl stands sentinel”; and which was crumbling into and choking up the Bamani, whose monotonous murmur over these impediments increased the melancholy sensations which arose on beholding such a scene. Every year is aiding its rapid decay, and vegetation, fixing itself everywhere, rends its walls asunder. The range of stabling for thirty horses, all of stone, even to the mangers, is one extensive ruin. It was on this spot, according to the chronicles, that the sage Harit bestowed the enchanted blade upon the great sire of the Sesodias, eleven centuries ago; but they have run their career, and the problem remains to be solved, whether they have to commence a new course, or proceed in the same ratio of decay as the palace of the tiger-mount. The walls around this royal preserve no longer serve to keep the game from prowling where they please. A noble boar crossed our path, but had no pursuers; "our blood was cold"; we wanted rest. As we approached our old ground, my neighbours of Merta and villages adjacent poured out to welcome our return, preceded by the Dholi of Tus and his huge kettle-drum, and the fair, bearing their lotas, or brazen vessels with water, chanted the usual strain of welcome. I dropped a piece of silver into each as I passed, and hastened to rest my wearied limbs.